Ways of seeing transgender in independent Chinese cinema

Bao, Hongwei

Abstract

This article examines the history of representing transgender people in independent films produced in mainland China from the 1990s to present. Tracing a brief history of the transgender representation on Chinese screen, this article illustrates the multiplicity and porousness of transgender cinematic representations in postsocialist China. It identifies five ways of representing trans people on Chinese screen, roughly corresponding to five historical periods and modes of representation. These diverse representations result from a contingent assemblage of factors including the film genre, the filmmaker's subjectivity, the relationship between the filmmaker and the filmed subjects, the discourses in which the representations are situated, and the development of the trans subjectivities and communities. Recognising the crucial role of films in identity construction and community formation, this article contends that these 'trans' films construct the Chinese transgender subject as contingent,

Citation

Bao, H. (2022). Ways of seeing transgender in independent Chinese cinema. Feminist Media Studies, 22(5), 1278-1281. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2022.2077798

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 8, 2022
• Online Publication Date: May 17, 2022
• Publication Date: May 17, 2022
• Deposit Date: May 13, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 18, 2023
• Journal: Feminist Media Studies
• Print ISSN: 1468-0777
• Electronic ISSN: 1471-5902
• Publisher: Informa UK Limited
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 22
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 1278-1281
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2022.2077798
• Keywords: Visual Arts and Performing Arts; Communication; Gender Studies
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/8048722
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14680777.2022.2077798
• Additional Information: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Feminist Media Studies on 17 May 2022, available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14680777.2022.2077798